Board Member in DB?

[Randy Twizzle]

I was cleaning up my basement this morning and found a Down Beat from December 1993 that had a letter in the "Chords & Discords" section (pg 8) from a Daniel Gould living in Wilton Conn.

"Denny Manucal is correct in asserting that DB bills itself as "Jazz Blues & Beyond," not "Just Jazz" ("Chords" Aug '93) But such was not always the case. Until the mid-'60s DB was in spirit, "just jazz." Then a false prophet named Miles Davis recorded "Bitches Brew", triggering the decline of jazz and its premier journal "Down Beat."

Back in the day I sometimes was tempted to write a letter to Down Beat but I usually just had another drink and forgot about it.

[Dan Gould]

I was cleaning up my basement this morning and found a Down Beat from December 1993 that had a letter in the "Chords & Discords" section (pg 8) from a Daniel Gould living in Wilton Conn.

"Denny Manucal is correct in asserting that DB bills itself as "Jazz Blues & Beyond," not "Just Jazz" ("Chords" Aug '93) But such was not always the case. Until the mid-'60s DB was in spirit, "just jazz." Then a false prophet named Miles Davis recorded "Bitches Brew", triggering the decline of jazz and its premier journal "Down Beat."

Back in the day I sometimes was tempted to write a letter to Down Beat but I usually just had another drink and forgot about it.

Oh to be young and foolish again.

In my defense, at the time I was enthralled by Wynton's "blues and swing" definition of jazz and had no interest in Miles' music from Bitches Brew onward (I still don't) and since I bought into Columbia's description of BB as "the first shot fired in the fusion revolution" I considered Miles the font of all that came after. And in point of fact, I had no knowledge whatsoever about how much non-jazz DB covered back in the day. Basically, I just wanted to see my name in the mag.

Now, if you can find the Jazz Times where I called smooth jazz the "bastard son of Miles Davis and Creed Taylor" ....

[B. Clugston]

Philip Larkin would have been proud.

[Dan Gould]

Philip Larkin would have been proud.

If you mean my memorable turns of phrase, I agree wholeheartedly.